


the clock is ticking and i'm out of time

by humanluke



Series: 5sos prompts [35]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Coffee, M/M, Meet-Cute, Video game designer, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:42:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29452509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humanluke/pseuds/humanluke
Summary: michael is going to be late for work.
Relationships: Michael Clifford/Luke Hemmings
Series: 5sos prompts [35]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019475
Kudos: 2





	the clock is ticking and i'm out of time

Michael was going to be late.

It was his first day at his new job, and he was already going to be fucking late. He’d overslept through his alarm, and was scrambling to get his uniform pulled on before running out of his apartment. He’d barely even had time to say goodbye to Calum as he scrambled through the front door so he could catch the train in time for himself to get to work at least semi-ontime.

He’s cursing to himself as he makes his way down the street, smoothing down his shirt a little bit as he makes his way towards the train station. He hates that he’s going to be late on his first fucking day at this new job, when all he wanted to do was make a good impression. He just had to stay up till 2am playing Fortnite and eating too much junk food and ignoring his mental screams at himself to go to bed at a decent time.

His stomach grumbles at his thought of food, and he mentally groans again at the thought that he didn’t have any time to eat breakfast. He wonders if he’s already going to be late, if he should stop and maybe get something to eat at the bakery.

The logical side of his brain then reminds him that if he walks in late with food, it’s going to set an even worse first impression. So he tries to ignore the protests of his stomach, reminding himself he’s going to have to make sure he has time to go get something on his lunch today.

He basically ran to the train station, looking at his phone for the time. He had fifteen minutes to get to work, and the train ride was 10, so he had a good chance to get there on time (even if it was just barely). He makes his way onto the platform just as the train he needed pulls up, and he’s almost grateful for his bad timing.

He climbs onto the train, sitting in the nearest seat, knees bouncing anxiously. He hates that he feels like he’s in such a time crunch, but he knows it’s nothing but his own fault. He wipes his sweaty palms against his jeans as he eases back into his seat.

He was more than excited to start this new job -- going into game development was something he’d always wanted to do, and the chips had finally fallen into place for him with this opportunity. He wanted nothing more than to make a good impression, and he felt like if he didn’t manage to get there on time, he was going to put himself on a shit list right off. And that’s the last thing that Michael needs right now.

He’s deep in thought when they rattle off the name of his stop, and it pulls him out of his mind for a moment. He scrambles to get out of his seat, collecting himself and immediately turning and bumping into someone.

“Oh, shit, sorry…!” Michael rambles off. The person just turns and looks at him with an almost incredulous gaze, brow furrowed and pushing golden curls out of their face. Michael almost trips at the sight of the man, but bites his tongue.

“Can you watch where you’re going?” the person asks, sounding almost irritated with him. Michael scoffs a little bit as he brushes past him, rolling his eyes a little bit.

“Fight me, you attractive stranger,” he mutters under his breath as he makes his way off the train and onto the platform. He shakes the weird feeling off of himself and looks at his phone - he’s got 4 minutes to make it down the street to the office, so he thinks he should be able to make it just in time if he walks fast.

He manages to make it through the door with a minute to spare, earning himself some weird looks as he bursts through the door looking like he’s just run a marathon. He blushes a little bit as he makes his way to the front desk to let them know he was there for his first day.

He’s sure this day was going to go swimmingly, he thinks to himself.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael manages to make it until lunch unscathed, fitting in with ease at the office. He’s already made fast friends with one of the art directors here in the office, Ashton, and he’s glad to be able to have someone to talk to at work. (He also thinks that he looks like someone Calum would be into, so he was going to have to share all the details over dinner tonight.)

His stomach, however, was quite displeased with him, seeing as though he’d skipped over breakfast to make it on time. He thinks to himself he’s probably going to become one of those people who has a desk full of snacks, knowing himself. He does love a good snack from time to time.

Ashton had told him there was a pretty good cafe about two blocks from here with great coffee and sandwiches, so he thinks he’ll probably just go there for lunch. Michael usually isn’t huge on trying new places, but he doesn’t have a lot of options, and he trusts the opinion of his new friend so he’ll toss caution to the wind for today.

He immediately regrets that decision when he steps into the door of the cafe.

That man he’d walked into on the train, with the golden curls and ocean eyes, was standing front and center at the counter, laughing at something one of his coworkers said. He feels both angry at him for being rude to him this morning, and entirely embarrassed because of his reaction to him. He takes a breath, mentally preparing himself to face this man after their encounter this morning.

He steps up to the counter, and the man looks to him, a knowing grin on his lips. Michael would like to retract into his skin and never come out from the look. He offers the man a weak smile, and seeing him up close for real this time is worse than it was in passing on the train. This man looks like he was plucked out of a Greek myth and placed into modern day, to put it lightly.

“Uh, hi,” Michael starts, before looking up at the menu, trying to decide what he wants quickly before he makes an entire fool out of himself. “Can I get a medium regular iced coffee and… uh…” His brain is not working fast enough to make a good decision, obviously. He just picks the first thing his eyes settle on. “And the barbeque chicken panini?” At least what his eyes settled on sounded good. The man on the other side of the counter chuckles a little as he puts the order in. Michael’s eyes settle on his nametag, which reads Luke. At least he has a name for the rude, beautiful man.

“Are you going to fight me for it?” Luke asks with a laugh, raising an eyebrow at him. Michael furrows his brow as he pauses a little, wallet half pulled out of his pocket.

“What do you mean?” he offers, confused at his statement.

“When you were leaving the train, you said you were going to fight me. You also referred to me as a beautiful stranger.” His lips turn up into a smirk as his blues meet Michael’s greens, and Michael’s pretty sure his entire body turns the color of a cherry tomato.

“I…. uh….” He isn’t sure what to say, just hands Luke his debit card. Luke just chuckles a little bit, sliding the card for him.

“Don’t worry, I’m a shit fighter, you’d probably win anyways,” he laughs softly. “Have to say it’s the first time someone’s referred to me as a beautiful stranger, however.” Michael just laughs nervously, shrugging a little bit. “Have to say the feeling is mutual, however.” The man grins at him, and Michael’s pretty sure he’s just ascended to a new plane.

“I… what?” he manages as he takes his card back from him. “But… you were pretty rude to me this morning…”

“I hadn’t had my coffee yet, I was a little cranky,” Luke admits, bashfully rubbing the back of his neck. “Let me make it up to you.” He snags Michael’s receipt and scribbles something at the bottom of it with a little bit of a grin before handing it to him over the register. “Your food’ll be ready in a few at the end of the counter.”

Michael looks down at the scribble at the bottom of the receipt, reading a phone number with ‘Luke’ next to it with a little heart. He looks up to him, and Luke just winks at him before helping the next customer.

Calum was never going to believe him when he got home tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on [tumblr](http://cakelftv.tumblr.com)!


End file.
